Apropos to the title, all photos on this page were found—in my case in a drawer at the side of a crafts thrift-store. All are mounted slide film, all are at least a half-century old, and almost all are faded, dirtied, and scratched. Film fades over the decades, and color-positive film, often called slide film, fades the quickest, though even then it depends on film emulsion and storage conditions. Most of the images I found were heavily red-shifted, dirty, scratched, and occasionally stained. I scanned these slides, corrected the colors as best I could, and cleaned the resulting images to produce the final restorations.
The below image, taken in the Ivory Coast, is an example of an original, un-edited scan. The reddish haze is the natural fading of the color-positive film, most likely Kodak Ektachrome E-3 or E-4 (not the current E-6 emulsion), which had a reputation for aging quickly into reds. Hover over the image to see my digital restoration. Though still faded, we’re left with clear hints of the colors that the unknown photographer saw.
These slides caught my eyes because they seemed culturally and historically interesting. All have been lost to the years (along with their photographers), hidden in a closet or drawer or box, with little more than a few words handwritten on the slides to indicate time and place. I have included captions to match the written notes on the slides. I hope you enjoy this simple archive of forgotten photographs.
Africa
Europe
Asia
